ere this has been done. Sometimes
a whole verse (after the first line) has needed camouflage, and the
method adopted is best expressed as follows:

There was a young lady of Gloucester
Who couldn't eat salt with her egg,
And when she sat down
She could never get up,
And so the poor dog had none.

As regards the accompaniments, I have been solely guided by the
necessity of preserving the character of the melodies in all their
vigour and vitality, and have tried, even in obviously modal tunes,
not to obscure their breeziness by academic treatment.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Amongst those to whom I owe thanks, I must number the Editors of _The
Music Student_ and _Music and Letters_, for allowing me to incorporate
in this Preface portions of articles which I have written for them.
Also to Capt. W.J. Dowdy, both for singing shanties to me himself, and
affording me facilities for interviewing inmates of the Royal Albert
Institution, over which he presides. I also wish to express my
gratitude to those sailors who have in recent years sung shanties to
me, especially Capt. R.W. Robertson, Mr. Geo. Vickers, Mr. Richard
Allen, of Seahouses, and Mr. F.B. Mayoss. And last, but not least, to
Mr. Morley Roberts, who has not only sung shanties to me, but has also
given me the benefit of his ripe nautical experience.

R.R.T.

_Hampstead_, 1921.

NOTES ON THE SHANTIES

1. BILLY BOY

This is undoubtedly a coast song 'made into a shanty.' I heard it in
Northumberland, both on shore and in ships, when I was a boy. The
theme of a 'Boy Billy' seems common to folk-songs in different parts
of the country. The tunes are different, and the words vary, but the
topic is always the same: 'Billy' is asked where he has been all the
day; he replies that he has been courting; he is then questioned as to
the qualifications of his _inamorata_ as a housewife. Dr.
Vaughan-Williams's 'My Boy Billie' is in print and well known, as is
also Mr. Cecil Sharp's 'My Boy Willie' ['English Folk-Songs,' vol. i,
page 98]. I have also collected different versions in Warwickshire and
Somerset. The version of line 1, page 3, bars 2 and 3, is older than
the one given in my arrangement for male-voice chorus (Curwen Edition
50572), so, upon consideration, I decided to give it here. There are
many more verses, but they are not printable, nor do they readily lend
themselves to camouflage. The tune has not appeared in print until
now.